Written by Sonia A. Hall, Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, WSU, April 1, 2026
Growers and many others in the tree fruit industry are already checking on how phenology of their trees is progressing. But you can’t do that across the whole country, at least not with some regularity. So Emily Lavely (Michigan State University Extension) and Don Seifrit (Pennsylvania State University Extension) are bringing together researchers and Extension professionals from around the country once a month to help provide that broad view of what’s happening in orchards across the county. Join them in the newly released SPARC Orchard Roundup podcast as they discuss pome fruit issues from fruit growing regions across the country.
As Don, Extension Educator with Pennsylvania University Extension’s Tree Fruit Program describes in the introduction to the first episode, the podcast is part of the SPARC project (opens in a new window), “a team of scientists and Extension specialists and educators working to provide actionable solutions to pear and apple growers who are facing difficulties from changing heat and cold conditions, such as frost, winter injury, sunburn, and poor color development.” But doing the science is not enough. SPARC’s Extension team also work to bring that science to growers, including developing durable Extension materials on heat and cold damage mitigation in pome fruit.
Check out the first SPARC Orchard Roundup episode. In less than 15 minutes you’ll get a sense for what we are seeing across regions in terms of bud stage, flower bud phenology, return bloom, and bud survival. You’ll also hear about how phenology varies north to south within each state, and some tips on what weather patterns this winter (past for some, still occurring for others) and spring contributed to what we are seeing.
Find and follow the SPARC Orchard Roundup podcast on your preferred platform. We are on Spotify, Apple, Podcast Index, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Listen Notes, and Player FM.
Contact
Sonia A. Hall
Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, Washington State University
sonia.hall@wsu.edu
509-293-8797
Funding and acknowledgements
The SPARC Orchard Roundup and this article are supported by the USDA NIFA – Specialty Crop Research Initiative project “Preparing U.S. Pome Fruit Production for Extreme Temperatures in a Changing Climate” (2024-51181-43289; Accession #1032988)
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